Excerpt
Late-coming
Learners arriving at school late is a problem nationwide. Late-coming affects pass-rates and the functioning of the school. Research conducted by Wittenberg and others shows that:
20% of South African learners arrive late at school every day.
20% of teaching and learning time is wasted
An average school day should have 5 hours of teaching time. Up to 2 hours are lost each day for various reasons, including late-coming.
Khayeltisha High Schools experience higher rates of late-coming than the national average. To help solve this problem, Equal Education has embarked on a campaign to assist schools by encouraging learners to come to schools on time, all the time. This campaign was launched Monday 4 May 2009 at 7:30 am outside eight high schools in Khayelitsha.
On the positive side, in some schools, like Esangweni, we have seen the campaign gathering momentum and building support. In others, like harry Gwala, we have seen an amazing decline in the number of late-comers.
The campaign is special because it is driven by learners. It is learners saying to themselves and to each other: We value our education and we take responsibility for it.
